Churches, like love, will go on

The writer of John's Gospel gives us this: "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one."

Richard Clark in Christianity Today writes this: "We’ve all heard the alarms: an entire generation of "nones and dones" have supposedly left the church. There are good reasons for this exodus. The church is full of problems, now on display for all to see online. Everywhere we click, there’s another op-ed telling us how church has failed, how church leaders have lost touch with their congregants, and how technology and parachurch ministries will finally free us from the physical confines of our gathering places and the dysfunctions of our mismatched families."

A year ago yesterday I told the church plant I was involved in that we were leaving, that the plant had been deemed a failure. It hurt, though I knew most assuredly that it was failing. I even knew I was too old to be doing what I was doing, but still the sting of failure hurt like salt water in an open wound. It is something I will never get over completely.

We were doing all the things I think will work in a church today. We were completely contemporary, with a band that could play anything. We dressed like slacker millennials, blue jeans and open neck shirts. We were fixing a tired, aching building. We increased attendance nearly ever week, though it proved to be a soft increase as people from other churches came. I was able to worship for a year with my family, which still lives in New Orleans while we've moved five hours away.

For the last 10 years, General Council on Finance in the UMC shows that worship attendance in my denomination has decreased on average 52,383 per year nationally.

Between 1974 and 2012, the U.S. church lost 18 percent in worship attendance. During the same period, the number of U.S. churches shrank by 16 percent, the number of conferences by 19 percent and the number of districts by 21 percent.

I serve two churches now, much, much less contemporary but these are churches that have an idea about who they are and what they're called to do and even be. See, churches are about people, and people who will do and who will go make all the difference.

It is a comfort that attendance is up at both churches, and ministry is being done, though like always I can't let comfort by my guide. 

What I've learned, and I must say I am a hard head in this area, is churches will go on even if they fail to reach their target audience not because the pastor is great, the music is wonderful, the worship is inspiring, although all of the above matter. No, the church will go on because we are His, and He and the Father are one.

Nothing more is needed, ultimately. Nothing more is needed. He is the way, the truth, and the life.

We are living in confusing times. When a baseball announcer can say something about who can use the men's bathroom and who can't without being called appalling and nasty and ultimately fired for that statement, we are living in a time that calls for all of us to sit up and take notice. How we do church in a liberal world, which is where we are headed so fast we need to catch our breath lest we run out of it, is a question we must answer. Target apparently has made it clear that transgender people who visit its stores are welcome to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity. It is a new and confusing culture.

What it means is we must examine our core beliefs. We must stand by those core beliefs. We must preach what we believe to be truth out of a book that is as mysterious as it is wonderful. Ultimately that is all anyone can do. 

We are one with Jesus when we love more than anything else. What happened in culture doesn't change that. It might bend it a bit, but it doesn't change for He doesn't change.